A positive year

Measuring impact

and decentralisation

of operations

Last year the focus was on strategic themes such as pro-

file, social performance measurement and decentralized

decision-making. As a result Oikocredit was able to grow

in efficiency, quality of service and social relevance of its

work.

Social performance

Oikocredit currently supports 306 microfinance institutions,

which reach almost ten million clients all over the world. Social

performance data ­ gathered in 2006 among 70% of Oikocre-

dit's microfinance partners ­ show that, through them, at a

conservative calculation Oikocredit funds reach more than

half a million clients. Systematic performance measurement,

the wealth of anecdotal information that is available through-

out the organisation and the data from a number of full impact

studies, will help Oikocredit to further assess its impact on the

lives of poor people. (More on impact assessment on page 11).

Decentralized decision-making

Regional development centres (RDCs) are making good use

of their authority to locally approve and prepare disbursements

for smaller, low-risk projects. In 2006, they approved thirty-five

projects for a total of € 8 million. This shows that decentralisa-

tion works well. The loan application process is faster, more

cost-efficient and locally approved projects show a very good

repayment performance.

Further growth

Approvals reached € 117 million for 199 projects, and disbur-

sals were up to € 94 million. Approval procedures have been

streamlined; standard loan applications are now being ap-

proved on a daily basis. Field operations were profitable (for

the third year in a row), reaching a net income before divi-

dend of 1.8% of the average outstanding project portfolio. It

shows that Oikocredit's credit operations have become sus-

tainable.

Technical assistance

Project partners sometimes need to strengthen their in-house

capacity with non-financial services, such as advice, in-house

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